IC-NRLF 


J3 


' 


LINCOLN'S  USE 
OF  THE  BIBLE 


BY 

S.  TREVENA  JACKSON 


NEW  YORK :      EATON&  MAINS 
CINCINNATI:     JENNINGS  &  GRAHAM 


£457 


I 
•  I  .'EATON  &?  MAINS. 


IClbcn  quiet  in  m£  bouse  1F  sit, 

booh  be  nig  companion  still; 
JOB  tb£  savings  to  repeat, 
Galh  o'er  tbe  recoros  ot  tbg  will, 
Bno  eearcb  tbe  oracles  Divine, 
everg  beartfelt  wore  be  mine. 

— Charles  Wesley. 


Gbe  ^Sible  is  a  booh  of  faftb, 

B  booh  of  Doctrine, 

Bno  a  booh  of  religion, 

©f  especial  revelation  from  <3oo. 

— Daniel  Webster. 

Bno  wearg  seehers  of  tbe  best, 
Me  come  bach  laoen  from  our  quest, 
Co  fino  tbat  all  tbe  sages  saio— 
Us  in  tbe  JSooh  our  motbers  reao. 

— Whittier. 


LINCOLN'S  USE  OF  THE  BIBLE 

"  The  Bible  is  the  king's  best  copy,  the  mag 
istrate's  best  rule,  the  housewife's  best  guide, 
the  servant's  best  directory,  and  the  best  com 
panion  of  yoirth." 

a  log  cabin  at  Nolin's  Creek, 
Hardin  County,  Kentucky, 
the  boy  breathed  the  first 
breath  of  life*  Hope's  an 
chor  hung  on  a  slender  string, 
if  we  are  to  measure  by  the  child's  home 
surroundings*  But  his  birthplace  pos 
sessed  a  soul;  for  a  home  with  a  good 
book  in  it  has  a  soul*  This  book  was 
the  Bible*  It  mastered  his  manners, 
molded  his  mind,  made  mighty  his 
manhood,  and  gave  to  America  the 
matchless  man* 

In  the  Bible  he  found  the  truth  for 
the  ills  of  men,  the  secret  for  the  solu 
tion  of  life's  perplexing  problems,  the 
5 


i  LINCQLN^S    USE 

boon  for  the  best  beaten  patht  the  suc 
cor  for  the  suffering,  the  calmest  com 
forts  for  the  dying,  and  the  faithful 
friend  when  foes  are  near  and  other 
friends  so  far  away* 

We  shall  speak  of  what  others  have 
said  concerning  Lincoln's  use  of  the 
Bible;  what  he  himself  said  of  it;  the 
use  he  made  of  it;  and  the  influence  of 
the  Scriptures  on  his  life  and  literature* 

In  Herndon's  Life  of  Lincoln  the 
partner  and  President  is  portrayed  as 
a  foe  rather  than  a  friend  of  the  Bible* 
This  is  seen  to  be  erroneous  by 
simply  reading  his  speeches,  for  they 
are  like  the  dewdrops  on  the  blades 
of  green  in  early  fall,  sparkling  every 
where.  It  is  hard  to  read  a  great 
speech  of  Lincoln's  without  seeing  the 
influence  of  the  Bible  on  his  life, 
works,  and  style* 

Sarah  K*  Bolton  writes:    "  Mrs*  Lin- 
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OF    THE    BIBLE 


coin  possessed  bat  one  book  in  the 
world,  the  Bible;  and  from  this  she 
taught  her  children  daily*  Abraham 
had  been  to  school  for  two  or  three 
months,  to  such  a  school  as  the  rude 
country  afforded,  and  had  learned  to 
read*  Of  quick  mind  and  retentive 
memory,  he  soon  came  to  know  the 
Bible  well-nigh  by  heart,  and  to  look 
upon  his  gentle  teacher  as  the  em 
bodiment  of  all  the  good  precepts  in 
the  book/' 

Lincoln's  mother  died  after  a  linger 
ing  illness  when  he  was  ten  years  old* 
It  is  said  that  during  her  sickness  he 
cared  for  her  as  tenderly  as  a  girl,  and 
that  he  often  sat  at  her  side  and  read 
the  Bible  to  her  for  hours*  Much  of 
his  later  life  and  style  was  influenced 
by  his  early  reading  of  the  Bible* 

L*  E*  Chittenden  says:  "  Except 
the  instructions  of  his  mother,  the 


LINCOLN'S    USE 


Bible  more  powerfully  controlled  the 
intellectual  development  of  the  son  than 
all  other  causes  combined*  He  mem 
orized  many  of  its  chapters  and  had 
them  perfectly  at  his  command*  Early 
in  his  professional  life  he  learned  that 
the  most  useful  of  all  books  to  the 
public  speaker  was  the  Bible*  After 
1 857  he  seldom  made  a  speech  which 
did  not  contain  quotations  from  the 
Bible*" 

Alexander  Williamson*  who  was  en 
gaged  as  tutor  in  the  Lincoln  family  in 
Washington*  said:  "  Mr*  Lincoln  very 
frequently  studied  the  Bible  with  the 
aid  of  Cruden's  Concordance*  which 
lay  on  his  table."  The  Presbyterian 
pastor  in  Springfield,  Rev*  James 
Smith*  states  that  Lincoln  became  a 
believer  in  the  Bible  and  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  Son  of  God*  It  is  true  that  Mr* 
Smith  placed  before  Lincoln  the  argu- 


OF    THE    BIBLE 


ments  for  and  against  the  divine  au 
thority  of  the  Scriptures*  He  looked 
at  it  from  a  lawyers  viewpoint,  and, 
at  the  conclusion,  declared  the  argu 
ment  in  favor  of  divine  authority  and 
inspiration  of  the  Bible  unanswerable* 

Mr*  Arnold,  in  his  Life  of  Lincoln, 
speaking  of  the  Second  Inaugural 
Address,  said:  "  Since  the  days  of 
Christ's  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  where 
is  the  speech  of  emperor,  king,  or  ruler 
which  can  compare  with  this?  May 
we  not  without  irreverence  say  that 
passages  of  this  address  are  worthy  of 
that  holy  book  which  he  read  daily, 
and  from  which,  during  his  long  days 
of  trial,  he  had  drawn  inspiration  and 
guidance?  This  paper  in  its  solemn 
recognition  of  the  justice  of  the  Al 
mighty  God  reminds  us  of  the  words 
of  the  old  Hebrew  prophets*" 

Bishop  Simpson,  in  his  funeral  ad- 


LINCOLN'S    USE 


dress,  said:  "  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
a  good  mant  a  man  of  noble  heart  in 
every  way*  He  read  the  Bible  fre 
quently;  he  loved  it  for  its  great  truths; 
and  he  tried  to  be  guided  by  its  pre 
cepts*  He  believed  in  Christ  as  the 
Saviour  of  sinners,  and  I  think  he  was 
sincere  in  trying  to  bring  his  life  in 
harmony  with  the  precepts  of  revealed 
religion*  I  doubt  if  any  President  has 
shown  such  trust  in  God,  or  in  public 
document  so  frequently  referred  to 
divine  aid*" 

In  the  year  J90J  President  Roose 
velt  delivered  an  address  before  the 
American  Bible  Society  on  "  Reading 
the  Bible,"  in  which  he  said:  "  Lin 
coln,  sad,  patient,  kindly  Lincoln, 
who,  after  bearing  upon  his  shoulders 
for  four  years  a  greater  burden  than 
that  borne  by  any  other  man  of  the 

nineteenth  century,  laid  down  his  life 
10 


OF    THE    BIBLE 


for  the  people  whom,  living,  he  had 
served  so  well,  built  up  his  entire  read 
ing  upon  his  study  of  the  Bible*  He 
had  mastered  it  absolutely,  mastered 
is  as  later  he  mastered  only  one  or  two 
other  books,  notably  Shakespeare,  mas 
tered  it  so  that  he  became  almost  a 
man  of  one  book  who  knew  that  book, 
and  who  instinctively  put  into  prac 
tice  what  he  had  been  taught  therein; 
and  he  left  his  life  as  part  of  the 
crowning  work  of  the  century  just 
closed," 

Lincoln  often  spoke  and  wrote  of 
the  value  of  the  Bible*  To  Joshua  F* 
Speed,  one  of  his  most  intimate 
friends,  and  at  one  time  his  roommate, 
he  wrote:  "  I  am  profitably  engaged 
in  reading  the  Bible*  Take  all  of  this 
book  upon  reason  that  you  can,  and 
the  balance  on  faith,  and  you  will  live 

and  die  a  better  man*"    Mrs*  Speed 
II 


LINCOLN'S    USE 


gave  Lincoln  a  Biblet  andt  after  a  visit 
to  that  home  in  J84J,  he  wrote  to  the 
daughter,  Mary  Speed,  and  at  the 
close  said:  "  Tell  your  mother  I  have 
not  got  her  present  (an  Oxford  Bible) 
with  me,  but  I  intend  to  read  it  regu 
larly  when  I  return  home*  I  doubt  not 
that  it  is  really,  as  she  says,  the  best 
cure  for  the  blues,  could  one  but  take 
it  according  to  truth*" 

On  July  4,  J842,  in  writing  to  his 
friend  Speed  of  the  service  he  had  been 
in  bringing  Joshua  and  Fanny,  his 
sweetheart,  together,  he  said:  *  I  be 
lieve  God  made  me  one  of  the  instru 
ments  of  bringing  you  and  Fanny  to 
gether,  which  union  I  have  no  doubt 
he  had  foreordained*  Whatever  he 
designs  he  will  do  for  me  yet*  4  Stand 
still  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord  * 
is  my  text  just  now*" 

It  is  stated  on  good  authority  that 

J2 


OF    THE    BIBLE 


after  his  election  in  I860  he  said  to 
Judge  Joseph  Giflespie:  "  I  have  read 
on  my  knees  the  story  of  Gethsemane, 
where  the  Son  of  God  prayed  in  vain 
that  the  cap  of  bitterness  might  pass 
from  him*  I  am  in  the  garden  of 
Gethsemane  nowt  and  my  cup  is  run 
ning  over*" 

Lincoln's  reply  to  a  committee  of 
colored  people  of  Baltimore  who  pre 
sented  him  with  a  Bible,  September  7, 
1864,  gives  his  opinion  of  the  Bible: 
44  In  regard  to  this  great  book  I  have 
but  to  say:  It  is  the  best  gift  God  has 
given  to  man*  All  the  good  Saviour 
gave  to  this  world  was  communicated 
through  this  book*  But  for  it  we 
could  not  know  right  from  wrong*  All 
things  most  desirable  for  man's  wel 
fare  here  and  hereafter  are  to  be  found 
portrayed  in  it*  To  you  I  return  my 
most  sincere  thanks  for  the  very  ele- 

J3 


LINCOLN'S    USE 


gant  copy  of  the  great  Book  of  God 
which  you  present." 

At  Springfield  he  addressed  the 
Bible  Society  and  said:  '  It  seems  to 
me  that  nothing  short  of  infinite  wis 
dom  could  by  any  possibility  have  de 
vised  and  given  to  man  this  excellent 
and  perfect  moral  code*  It  is  suited 
to  men  in  all  the  conditions  of  life,  and 
inculcates  all  the  duties  they  owe  to 
their  Creator,  to  themselves,  and  to 
their  fellow  men*" 

In  J*  G*  Holland's  Life  of  Lincoln 
he  gives  us  the  conversation  with  Mr* 
Bateman:  "  Mr*  Bateman,  I  have 
carefully  read  the  Bible*"  Then  he 
drew  from  his  pocket  a  New  Testa 
ment:  "  These  men  will  know  that  I 
am  for  freedom  in  the  territories,  free 
dom  everywhere  as  far  as  the  Constitu 
tion  and  laws  will  permit,  and  my  oppo 
nents  are  for  slavery*  They  know 

J4 


OF    THE    BIBLE 


this,  yet,  with  this  book  in  their  hands, 
in  the  light  of  which  human  bondage 
cannot  live  a  moment,  they  are  going 
to  vote  against  me*  I  know  there  is  a 
God,  and  that  he  hates  injustice  and 
slavery*  I  see  the  storm  coming,  and 
I  know  that  his  hand  is  in  it*  If  he 
has  a  place  for  me — and  I  think  he  has 
— I  believe  I  am  ready.  I  am  nothing, 
but  truth  is  everything*  I  know  I  am 
right,  for  Christ  teaches  it*  and  Christ 
is  God." 

In  his  Lyceum  speech  he  speaks  of 
the  advantage  of  an  education  and 
being  able  to  read  the  history  of  his 
own  and  other  countries,  by  which  we 
may  appreciate  the  value  of  our  free 
institutions,  to  say  nothing  of  the  ad 
vantages  and  satisfaction  to  be  de 
rived  from  all  being  able  to  read  for 
themselves  the  Scriptures  and  other 
works  both  of  a  religious  and  moral 

15 


LINCOLN'S    USE 


nature*  In  this  same  speech  he  uses 
this  language:  "  If  destruction  be  our 
lot  we  must  ourselves  be  its  author  and 
finisher*"  Then,  speaking  of  the  Rev 
olution,  he  desired  the  history  of  it  to 
"be  read  and  recounted  as  long  as  the 
Bible  shall  be  read*" 

The  night  before  the  President  left 
Springfield  for  the  White  House  a 
friend  from  Chicago  sent  him  the  Amer 
ican  flag  with  these  words:  >4  Have 
not  I  commanded  thee?  Be  strong 
and  of  a  good  courage;  be  not  afraid, 
neither  be  thou  dismayed:  for  the  Lord 
thy  God  is  with  thee  whithersoever 
thou  goest*  There  shall  not  any  man 
be  able  to  stand  before  thee  all  the 
days  of  thy  life:  as  I  was  with  Moses, 
so  I  will  be  with  thee*" 

It  has  been  said  by  those  who  pride 
themselves  on  having  no  faith  in  the 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  that  Lin- 

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OF    THE    BIBLE 


coin  held  their  views*  But  he  ad 
dressed  conventions  and  Sunday 
schools*  and  the  Bible  was  as  often 
quoted  by  him  as  Blackstone*  The 
addresses  and  letters  of  Lincoln  are 
saturated  with  expressions  from  the 
Holy  Scriptures*  In  his  reply  to  Doug 
las  he  gave  his  speech  great  force  by 
the  words  of  Christ:  "  A  house  di 
vided  against  itself  cannot  stand*" 
In  writing  to  Mr*  W*  Durley  he  uses 
scriptural  terms:  "  By  the  fruit  the 
tree  is  to  be  known*  An  evil  tree 
cannot  bring  forth  good  fruit*" 

Ann  Rutledge  gave  him  a  new  view 
of  the  Bible  and  Shakespeare*  Abra 
ham  Lincoln's  is  the  language  of  the 
Bible*  He  never  used  the  Bible  in  an 
irreverent  way*  In  the  Lincoln  Mu 
seum,  Washington,  there  is  a  copy  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures*  It  is  well  worn, 
and  shows  the  signs  of  good  use*  In- 

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LINCOLN'S    USE 


side  the  cover  are  these  words  in  his 
own  handwriting:  "  A*  Lincoln,  his 
own  book," 

He  wrote  a  letter  to  Rev*  J.  KL  Peck 
in  1 848  asking  him,  "  Is  the  precept, 
4  Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men 
should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to 
them/  obsolete,  of  no  force,  of  no  ap 
plication?"  In  his  description  of  Ni 
agara  he  said:  "  It  calls  up  the  in 
definite  past  when  Christ  suffered  on 
the  cross,  when  Moses  led  Israel 
through  the  Red  Sea — nay,  even  when 
Adam  first  came  from  the  hand  of  his 
Maker;  then,  as  now,  Niagara  was  roar 
ing  here*" 

In  writing  to  John  D*  Johnston  con 
cerning  his  father's  illness,  he  said: 
"  I  sincerely  hope  Father  will  recover 
his  health,  but,  at  all  events,  tell  him 
to  remember  and  call  upon  and  con 
fide  in  our  great  and  good  and  merciful 

(8 


OF    THE    BIBLE 


Maker*  He  notes  the  fall  of  the  spar 
row  and  numbers  the  hairs  of  our 
headst  and  he  will  not  forget  the  dying 
man  who  puts  his  trust  in  him." 

Mr*  William  S*  Speer  wrote  to  Mr* 
Lincoln  asking  him  to  write  a  letter  to 
give  his  definite  views  on  the  slavery 
question*  Lincoln  replied:  '*  I  have 
already  done  this  many*  many  times* 
and  it  is  in  print  and  open  to  all  who 
will  read*  Those  who  will  not  read 
or  heed  what  I  have  already  publicly 
said  would  not  read  or  heed  a  repetition 
of  it*  'If  they  hear  not  Moses  and 
the  prophets*  neither  will  they  be  per 
suaded  though  one  rose  from  the 
dead*' " 

In  a  letter  to  Reverdy  Johnson  he 
wrote:  "  I  am  a  patient  man*  always 
willing  to  forgive  on  the  Christian 
terms  of  repentance*  and  also  to  give 
ample  time  for  repentance*"  Lincoln 


LINCOLN'S    USE 


wrote  to  General  J*  A*  McClcrnand: 
44  My  belief  is  that  the  permanent  esti 
mate  of  what  a  general  does  in  the 
field  is  fixed  by  the  'cloud  of  witnesses ' 
who  have  been  with  him  in  the  field*" 

Lincoln  was  ever  bringing  his  knowl 
edge  of  the  Scriptures  to  the  minds  of 
men*  When  an  aged  citizen,  John 
Phillips,  had  done  him  honor*  he  wrote 
him:  "  The  example  of  such  devotion 
to  civic  duties  in  one  whose  days  have 
been  already  extended  an  average  life 
time  beyond  the  psalmists  limit  cannot 
but  be  valuable  and  fruitful*" 

We  find  in  his  speeches  and  letters 
the  Bible  at  his  tongue's  end*  In  his 
reply  to  Douglas  at  Alton  he  said: 
44  He  has  warred  upon  them  as  Satan 
wars  upon  the  Bible*  The  Bible  says 
somewhere  we  are  desperately  selfish*" 
And*  writing  to  J*  F*  Speed*  he  writes 
of  those  who  are  so  interested  in  slav- 

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OF    THE    BIBLE 


ery*  and  says:  '  Ift  like  Haman*  they 
should  hang  upon  the  gallows  of  their 
own  building,  I  should  not  be  among 
the  mourners  for  their  fate*"  Then 
again  he  says:  "  Let  us  judge  nott 
that  we  be  not  judged*"  Then  the 
words  of  the  Christ:  "  Woe  unto  the 
world  because  of  offenses!  for  it  must 
needs  be  that  offenses  come;  but  woe 
to  that  man  by  whom  the  offense 
cometh!" 

In  his  temperance  speech  in  J842  he 
sees  the  spirit  of  temperance  like  the 
conqueror  in  the  Revelation  going 
forth  "  conquering  and  to  conquer*" 
He  sees  the  drunkard  reclaimed*  and* 
like  the  man  in  the  gospelt  "clothed 
and  in  his  right  mind";  then,  describ 
ing  the  reclaimed*  "out  of  their  abun 
dant  hearts  their  tongues  give  utter 
ance*"  Then  he  speaks  of  the  un 
pardonable  sin  for  the  drunkard  as 
21 


LINCOLN'S    USE 


unknown:  "  As  in  Christianity  it  is 
taught,  *  while  the  lamp  holds  out  to 
burn  the  vilest  sinner  may  return/ " 
Then  he  refers  to  the  Scriptures  and 
says:  "  He  ever  seems  to  have  gone 
forth  like  the  Egyptian  angel  of  death, 
commissioned  to  slay,  if  not  the  first, 
the  fairest  born  of  every  family*" 
Then  he  takes  us  over  to  the  prophet: 
!*  Come  from  the  four  winds,  O  breath, 
and  breathe  upon  these  slain,  that 
they  may  live*" 

He  was  very  fond  of  a  poem  called 
"  Adam  and  Eve's  Wedding  Song": 

"  When  Adam  was  created 

He  dwelt  m  Eden's  shade, 
As  Moses  has  recorded, 

And  soon  a  bride  was  made/' 

Some  thought  that  Lincoln  was  its 
author,  but  he  said:  "  I  am  not  the 
author*  I  would  give  all  I  am  worth, 
and  go  in  debt,  to  be  able  to  write  so 

22 


OF    THE    BIBLE 


fine  a  piece."  In  speaking  of  the 
tariff  he  said:  "In  the  early  days  of 
our  race  the  Almighty  said  to  the  first 
of  our  race* 4  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face 
shalt  thou  eat  bread/  ' 

In  J848,  when  President  Polk  sent 
a  message  to  Congress  stating  that 
Mexico  "had  shed  American  blood 
upon  American  soil/'  Lincoln  made  a 
long  speech  against  war  with  Mexico, 
and  recalled  the  death  of  Abel  thus: 
"That  he  [President  Polk]  is  deeply 
conscious  of  being  in  the  wrong;  that 
he  feels  the  blood  of  this  war*  like  the 
blood  of  Abel,  is  crying  to  heaven 
against  him*" 

In  Lincoln's  eulogy  on  Henry  Clay 
he  brings  the  Book  of  God  before 
the  people:  "Pharaoh's  country  was 
cursed  with  plagues  and  his  hosts  were 
lost  in  the  Red  Sea  for  striving  to  re 
tain  a  captive  people  who  had  already 

23 


LINCOLN'S    USE 


served  them  more  than  four  hundred 
years*  May  this  disaster  never  befall 
us!" 

His  knowledge  of  the  Bible  is  clearly 
seen  in  his  debate  with  Judge  Douglas, 
for  when  the  latter  described  man  in 
the  garden  with  evil  or  good  to  choose 
from  Lincoln's  reply  was:  "God  did 
not  place  good  and  evil  before  man, 
telling  him  to  take  his  choice*  On  the 
contrary,  he  did  tell  him  there  was  one 
tree  of  the  fruit  of  which  he  should  not 
eat  upon  pain  of  certain  death*"  Later 
Judge  Douglas  said  that  Lincoln 
had  a  proneness  for  quoting  the 
Scriptures,  and  Lincoln  replied  in  his 
Springfield  address,  July  I7t  1858: 
44  If  I  should  do  so  now  it  occurs 
that  he  places  himself  somewhat  upon 
the  ground  of  the  parable  of  the  lost 
sheep  which  went  astray  upon  the 
mountains,  and  when  the  owner  of  the 

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OF    THE    BIBLE 


hundred  sheep  found  the  one  that  was 
lost  and  threw  it  upon  his  shoulders, 
and  came  home  rejoicing,  it  was  said 
that  there  was  more  rejoicing  over  the 
one  sheep  that  was  lost  and  had  been 
found  than  over  the  ninety  and  nine 
in  the  fold*  The  application  is  made 
by  the  Saviour  in  this  parable  thus: 
4  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  there  is  more  re 
joicing  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that 
repenteth  than  over  ninety  and  nine 
just  persons  that  need  no  repentance/ 
Repentance  before  forgiveness  is  a  pro 
vision  of  the  Christian  system."  In 
his  fragments  of  a  speech  he  claims 
*  the  revelation  in  the  Bible,  and  his 
revelation  the  Bible*" 

Lincoln  has  before  his  mind  the 
ideas  of  the  early  church  when  he  says: 

4  Give  to  him  that  is  needy '  is  a 
Christian  rule  of  charity*"  In  J859 
he  gave  a  lecture  on  "  Discoveries, 

25 


LINCOLN'S    USE 


Inventions,  and  Improvements,"  in 
which  he  gives  a  description  of  our 
first  parents:  '  It  was  the  destined 
work  of  Adam's  race  to  develop  by 
discoveries,  inventions,  and  improve 
ments,  and  the  first  invention  of  which 
we  have  any  account  is  the  fig-leaf 
apron*  Speech  was  used  by  our  first 
parents,  and  even  by  Adam  before 
the  creation  of  Eve." 

At  Cincinnati  he  speaks  of  "  the 
loaves  and  fishes,"  and  concludes  his 
speech  almost  with  Bible  words:  "The 
good  old  maxims  of  the  Bible  are  appli 
cable,  and  truly  applicable,  to  human 
affairs;  and  in  this  as  in  other  things 
we  may  say  here  that  he  who  is  not 
for  us  is  against  us;  and  he  who  gath- 
ereth  not  with  us  scattereth*"  He 
concludes  his  speech  in  Kansas  in  the 
same  year  with  the  same  words* 

When  the  people  were  anxious  to 

26 


OF    THE    BIBLE 


hear  and  see  him  on  his  way  to  the 
White  House  he  was  desirous  of  keep 
ing  silence,  and  often  quoted:  "  Solo 
mon  says  there  is  a  time  to  keep  si 
lence*"  At  Philadelphia,  in  Independ 
ence  Hall,  he  spoke:  "  All  my  politi 
cal  welfare  has  been  in  favor  of  the 
teachings  that  come  from  these  sacred 
walls*  May  my  right  hand  forget  its 
canning,  and  my  tongue  cleave  to  the 
roof  of  my  mouth,  if  ever  I  prove  false 
to  these  teachings*" 

When  Lincoln  proclaimed  a  national 
fast  day  he  declared  that  ail  must  be 
done  in  full  conviction  "  that  the  tear 
of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wis 
dom*" 

An  old  man  had  come  to  Lincoln  for 
his  son,  who  was  to  be  shot,  and  said: 
44  Mr*  Lincoln,  my  wife  sent  me  to  you* 
We  had  three  boys*  They  all  joined 

your    army*    One   of    'em   has    been 
27 


LINCOLN'S    USE 


killed,  one's  a-fighting  now,  and  one 
of  'em,  the  youngest,  has  been  tried  for 
deserting,  and  he's  going  to  be  shot 
day  after  to-morrow*  He  never  de 
serted*  He's  wild  and  may  have  drunk 
too  much  and  wandered  off,  but  he 
never  deserted*  'Tain't  in  the  blood* 
He's  his  mother's  favorite,  and  if  he's 
shot  I  know  she'll  die*"  General  But 
ler  was  telegraphed  to  to  suspend  the 
execution*  The  old  man  was  afraid 
to  go  home  with  this  message,  thinking 
the  President  might  give  a  different 
order  to-morrow*  Lincoln  said  to  the 
old  man:  "  Tell  his  mother  that  I 
said,  'If  your  son  lives  until  they  get 
further  orders  from  me,  when  he  does 
die  people  will  say  that  old  Methuselah 
was  a  baby  compared  to  him*' ' 

It  is  said  that  the  best  result  which 
the  convention  achieved  at  Cleveland 
in  1864,  when  it  nominated  Fremont 

23 


OF    THE    BIBLE 


for  the  presidency  and  John  Cochrane 
for  the  vice-presidency,  was  that  it 
called  forth  a  bit  of  wit  from  the  Pres 
ident*  Some  one  remarked  to  him 
that,  instead  of  the  expected  thou 
sands,  only  about  four  hundred  per 
sons  were  present*  He  turned  to  the 
Bible  which,  say  Nicolay  and  Hay, 
commonly  lay  on  his  desk,  and  read 
J  Sam*  22*  2:  "And  every  one  that 
was  in  distress,  and  every  one  that 
was  in  debt,  and  every  one  that  was 
in  bitterness  of  soul,  gathered  them 
selves  unto  him ;  and  he  became  a 
captain  over  them:  and  there  were 
with  him  about  four  hundred  men." 

A  primary  and  intermediate  school 
was  so  located  as  to  be  separated  by  a 
fence  from  the  rear  of  the  White  House 
grounds.  The  President  often  watched 
the  children  play.  One  morning  the 
teacher  gave  them  a  lesson  in  neatness, 

29 


LINCOLN'S    USE 


and  asked  each  boy  to  come  to  school 
next  day  with  his  shoes  blacked.  They 
all  obeyed.  One  of  them,  John  S.t  a 
poor  one-armed  lad,  had  used  stove 
polish,  the  only  kind  his  home  afforded. 
The  boys  were  merciless  in  their  ridi 
cule*  The  boy  was  only  nine  years 
old,  the  son  of  a  dead  soldier,  his 
mother  a  washerwoman,  with  three 
other  children  to  provide  for*  The 
President  heard  the  boys  jeering 
Johnny,  and  learned  the  facts  about 
the  boy* 

The  next  day  John  S.  came  to 
school  with  a  new  suit  and  with  new 
shoes,  and  told  that  the  President  had 
called  at  his  home  and  took  him  to  the 
store  and  bought  two  suits  of  clothes 
for  him  and  clothes  for  his  sisters,  and 
sent  coal  and  groceries  to  the  house* 
In  addition  to  this  the  lad  brought  to 

the  teacher  a  scrap  of  paper  contain- 
so 


OF    THE    BIBLE 


ing  a  verse  of  Scripture,  which  Mr* 
Lincoln  had  requested  to  have  written 
upon  the  blackboard : 

44  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto 
one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren, 
ye  have  done  it  unto  me." 

Some  weeks  after  the  President  vis 
ited  the  school,  and  the  teacher 
directed  his  attention  to  the  verse, 
which  was  still  there.  Mr.  Lincoln 
read  it ;  then,  taking  a  crayon,  said  : 
44  Boys,  I  have  another  quotation  from 
the  Bible,  and  I  hope  you  will  learn  it 
and  come  to  know  its  truth  as  I  have 
known  and  felt  it."  Then  below  the 
other  verse  he  wrote  : 

44  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive.  A.  LINCOLN." 

The  influence  of  the  Bible  on  the 
life  and  literature  of  Lincoln  was  re 
markable*  It  gave  to  this  nation  and 
the  world  a  life  of  service,  and  in  that 

3J 


LINCOLN'S    USE 


service  he  placed  the  most  delicate 
spirit  of  sincerity,  sobriety,  sympathy, 
and  love*  In  literature  he  has  given 
to  tis  abiding  beauty  in  its  simplicity 
and  strength  of  expression*  Of  his 
Gettysburg  speech  the  London  Quar 
terly  Review  said,  substantially,  that 
the  oration  surpassed  every  produc 
tion  of  its  class  known  in  literature; 
that  only  the  oration  of  Pericles  over 
the  victories  of  the  Peloponnesian  War 
could  be  compared  to  it,  and  that  was 
put  into  his  mouth  by  the  historian 
Thucydides*  Mr*  Sumner  said  it  was 
the  most  finished  piece  of  oratory  he 
had  ever  seen*  Every  word  was  ap 
propriate*  None  could  be  omitted  and 
none  added  and  none  changed* 

Professor  Albert  S*  Cook,  teacher  of 
English  Language  and  Literature  in 
Yale,  in  his  book,  The  Bible  and  Eng 
lish  Prose  Style,  seeking  to  show  the 

32 


OF    THE    BIBLE 


influence  of  the  Bible  on  the  style  of 
great  writers,  says:  "  But  the  matter 
is  beyond  dispute  when  we  come  to  a 
piece  of  classic  prose  like  Lincoln's 
Second  Inaugural,  which  certainly  owes 
nothing  to  the  Romans  of  the  Deca 
dence*"  Then  this  sample  of  the  Bible 
style  is  given:  "  4  Neither  party  ex 
pected  the  magnitude  or  the  duration 
which  it  has  already  attained.  Neither 
anticipated  that  the  cause  of  the  con 
flict  might  cease  with,  or  even  before 
the  conflict  itself  should  cease*  Each 
looked  for  an  easier  triumph,  and  a  re 
sult  less  fundamental  and  astounding* 
Both  read  the  same  Bible  and  prayed 
to  the  same  God,  and  each  invoked  his 
aid  against  the  other*  It  may  seem 
strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to 
ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  wringing 
their  bread  from  the  sweat  of  other 
men's  faces;  but  let  us  judge  not,  that 

33 


LINCOLN'S    USE 


we  be  not  judged*  The  prayers  of 
both  could  not  be  answered*  That  of 
neither  has  been  fully*  The  Almighty 
has  his  own  purposes! ' 

"  At  this  point  we  may  pause*  for  we 
need  no  further  demonstration  of  the 
indebtedness  of  English  prose  style  to 
the  Bible,  nor  would  it  be  easy  to  dis 
cover  a  better  illustration  of  biblical 
qualities  in  modern  guise  exemplified 
in  a  passage  of  more  interest  to  all  the 
world*  South  recognized  it  as  a  mark 
of  illiteracy  to  be  fond  of  high-flown 
metaphors  and  allegories,  attended  and 
set  off  with  scraps  of  Greek  and  Latin* 
If  this  be  true,  the  American  people  so 
far  escape  the  imputation  as  they  have 
set  their  seal  of  approval  on  such  writ 
ings  as  Lincoln's;  and  that  they  have 
had  judgment  and  taste  to  do  so  is  due* 
more  than  to  any  other  cause*  to  their 
familiarity  with  the  Bible*" 

34 


OF    THE    BIBLE 


The  spirit  life  of  the  Bible  was  built 
into  Lincoln's  boyhood,  expanded  in 
his  young  manhood,  ripened  in  his 
middle  age,  sustained  him  when  sor 
rows  seared  his  soul,  and  gave  to  him  a 
grip  upon  God,  man,  freedom,  and  im 
mortality*  The  influence  of  the  Bible 
upon  him  gave  him  reverence  for  God 
and  his  will;  for  Christianity  and  its 
Christ;  for  the  Holy  Spirit  and  its  help; 
for  prayer  and  its  power;  for  praise  and 
its  purpose;  for  the  immortal  impulse 
and  its  inspiration* 

Truly  might  Henry  Watterson  ask: 
"  Where  did  Shakespeare  get  his  gen 
ius?  Where  did  Mozart  get  his  music? 
Whose  hand  smote  the  lyre  of  the  Scot 
tish  plowman,  and  stayed  the  life  of 
the  German  priest?  God,  God,  and 
God  alone,  and  surely  as  these  were 
raised  up  by  God,  so  was  Abraham 
Lincoln/' 

35 


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Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
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LD 

APR    31958 


FEB  24  I 
/I 


AUG25  1978 
JEP23  1978 

REC.VCIR.OCT  ilA    'o 


.j 

LD  21-100m-ll,'49(B714(i8l6)476 


Binder 
Gaylord  Bros-  Inc. 

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